Messy History

The story of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family. We discuss their early lives, marriage, and the challenges they faced, such as their son Alexei's hemophilia and the introduction of Rasputin into their lives. Following this, we cover the political turmoil and the unrest leading up to World War I, Nicholas's role in the war, and his eventual abdication. Both primary sources, Sophie and Pierre, provide firsthand accounts of the family's final days. Image Nicholas II of Russi...

That time China declared a war on drugs, and found themselves pitted against the narco traffickers of the 19th century - the British Empire. Welcome to the first Opium War. Image Commissioner Lin and the Destruction of the Opium in 1839. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destruction_of_opium_in_1839.jpg Sources Chang, Hsin Pao. Commissioner Lin and the Opium War. The Norton Library. W.W. Norton and Company, inc. New York, 1970. Cree, Dr. Edward H. ...

After Kristallnacht, there were few places still taking in Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. One of those was Shanghai, under Japanese occupation. When Japan entered the war as allies of Germany, the fate of these refugees hung in the balance. Photo The arrival of Jewish refugees from Austria in Shanghai. The refugees are disembarking from the Italian ship Conte Verde. 1938 December 14 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park R...

A short except from a survivor of the Ukrainian Hunger Famines. In solemn remembrance of the millions who perished. Source: Execution By Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust, Miron Dolot, 1985

We discuss the experiences of Edward Adler, a Jewish man in 1930's Germany, as he describes growing anti-semitism, being forced to build one of the first extermination camps, and his narrow escape after Kristallnacht. And that one time he was a kid and joined the Nazis - before they found out he was a Jew. Image Germany - a sign on a Jewish store: Protect Yourselves, Germans, Do Not Buy From Jews. Yad Vashem Archives Archival Signature: 3116/50 Sources RG Number: RG-50.042.0003 Interview wi...

Today we talk about Leopold II, King of Belgium from 1865-1909, and his personal empire in the African Congo. This is the story of a man who put his pocketbook ahead of a people, the nation he enslaved, and the global cast of writers and advocates that worked to bring him down. Image In The Rubber Coils. Scene - The Congo 'Free' State" Linley Sambourne depicts King Leopold II of Belgium as a snake attacking a Congolese rubber collector. Published on 28 November 1906 Edward Linley Sambourne, P...

We discuss the Kindertransport program through which around 10,000 children were saved from Nazi occupied Europe from November 1938 until German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. Image A picture of one of the tags that children wore around their neck when arriving in Britain, as a way for them to meet with their foster families. This numbered identification tag was worn by Henry Schmelzer when he was a member of a Kindertransport sent from Austria to England in December 1938. Uni...